Snow doesn’t stop local disc golf players

Jordan Beck

Staff Writer

jbeck@dailypress.net

WELLS — A league set up to give local disc golf enthusiasts a chance to participate in their sport of choice during the winter months is continuing in 2018. The Noc Bay Flyers Disc Golf Club is once again hosting weekly meetings of its Indoor Putting League at the Hannahville Ice and Turf Complex.

The club established the league in 2017. Noc Bay Flyers Co-Chair Jon Harris said the league was successful in its first year, with an average of 20 people participating each week.

“There seemed to be a lot of people who enjoyed it last year, so we decided to do it … again,” he said.

Harris said many other disc golf putting leagues have been similarly successful recently.

“Putting leagues are getting more popular throughout the country,” he said.

A few changes have been made to the Indoor Putting League for 2018.

“We have changed the format,” Harris said.

This year, participants putt at five different stations, which are worth varying numbers of points. Some of these stations feature obstacles, which were also introduced to the league this year.

“It’s more like playing on an actual course,” Harris said of the obstacles.

Each week, the league’s top three scorers receive a small cash payout. A larger cash prize will be given to the league’s top three scorers at the end of the season.

Harris said this was another addition to the league for 2018.

“We decided that people wanted to win money, and it’d give them a greater incentive to come play,” he said.

Noc Bay Flyers member Britt Stephens of Escanaba, who participated in the Indoor Putting League last year, said he appreciates the chance this league gives him to develop his putting skills.

“It’s just great practice,” he said.

He also said the league is perfect for January and February.

“There’s nothing else to do in the cold, anyway,” he said.

Gladstone resident James Irland attended his first Indoor Putting League meeting earlier this week. Like Stephens, he feels the league is an ideal fit for this time of year.

“It gives you a chance to do something that involves disc golf … in the wintertime,” he said.

Participating in the Indoor Putting League is not the only disc golf-related thing members of Noc Bay Flyers have been doing recently. The club has also been working towards the establishment of a new disc golf course at Gladstone’s John and Melissa Besse Sports Park.

This course will feature a 27-hole layout with two tee pads and two baskets at each hole, which was designed by 2010 Disc Golf World Champion Eric McCabe of Dynamic Course Design. A groundbreaking ceremony for the new course was held in November 2017, and baskets and tee pads for the course will be installed later this year.

“Construction will commence as soon as the ground thaws,” Harris said.

The course is expected to be ready for public use this summer. Irland said he is looking forward to playing disc golf there.

“That’s (going to) be awesome — nothing but awesome,” he said.

The Indoor Putting League will continue to meet on Monday evenings through the last Monday of February. Meetings are held at the Hannahville Ice and Turf Complex from 6:30 to 9:30 p.m., and there is a weekly fee to participate. Discs are provided by the Beaten Path, and participants are asked to bring clean, dry shoes to wear. For more information, contact Harris at (906) 789-6220.